


Compromise

by TeaandBanjo



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 01:17:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12570460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaandBanjo/pseuds/TeaandBanjo
Summary: As you might expect, the newlyweds don't agree on everything.  There is some conflict, quite a lot of damp clothing, and a troublesome wood stove, but in the end, everyone comes to a happy agreement.





	Compromise

The Collinses stumbled though the front door and out of the rain. "Well, we have the food and water for tea," observed Hugh. "There is nothing else we need from the car, at least until the rain lets up." "It was really nice of your aunt to let us use her cabin this weekend," said Dotty, as she set the full kettle on top of the wood stove.  She opened the firebox and peered inside.

"Yes," agreed her husband, "but the weather's beastly.  We are both soaked." He glanced around, noting a table with mismatched chairs, the wood stove, and a bed against the far wall.  Perhaps this wouldn't be a totally wretched weekend, after all.

Dotty made a thoughtful noise and inspected the contents of the wood box. She put some smallish chunks of wood in the stove, and added twigs and wood chips in a pile next to them.  "Do we have some paper?  It will be so much easier to light this if we do."  She shivered.  "We need to get warm."

"At the South Pole they reccomend skin to skin contact," offered Hugh, with a smile.  He pulled a magazine with a yellow-bordered cover out of his coat pocket, and flipped pages to find the article in question.

"Thank you, Hugh.  That's perfect!"  She took the magazine out of his hands and tore out a couple of pages.

"Oi! I wasn't done reading that!"

"If it doesn't warm up in here, you aren't going to see any of MY skin." Dotty crumpled the torn pages, placing the kindling over them, then struck a match.  "We will get you a new one the next time we are at a book shop that sells American magazines," she continued, leaning towards the firebox and holding the flame to one corner of a page.

The glow from the burning kindling shone warm and golden on Dorothy's damp hair.  Hugh took what was left of his magazine out of her hand, and pulled her close to distract her with a kiss.

He was quite effective.  Several minutes later, they both decided that the room was noticeably warmer, and Dotty had decided that the fire was going well and didn't need any more pages of the magazine.

"Hugh?  Tea first? Or the other thing?"

So, they compromised.  By the time their wet things were all hung on furniture placed near the stove, the happy couple was compelled to retreat to the bed with their mugs of hot tea, as there was not any other place to sit.

**Author's Note:**

> The magazine is National Geographic, an American publication long noted for articles on geography, travel, and other things that certainly include travel to the South Pole.
> 
> It's traditional cover has a yellow spine, and a border of yellow around the front cover.
> 
> In this degenerate age, National Geographic is mostly noted for television documentaries.


End file.
